Here’s what you’d see if
you walked in the store today:

We’re participating in Banned Books Week, September 27 to October 3, with hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country. It’s a celebration of the freedom to read and a way to draw attention to the problem of censorship. More than 11,300 books have been challenged since 1982, according to the American Library Association.

More information about Banned Books Week is available at bannedbooksweek.org.

Rescheduled book signing

On October 3, from noon to 2:00, Michael Wellner will be in the store signing copies of Echoes from the Heartland, observations of people and places he’s encountered, which created a Sense of Place in his life.

National Reading Group Month

If you’re part of a book group, you’re in good company! Our store alone sponsors eight book groups because we know that good books bring people together. National Reading Group Month salutes reading groups, fosters their growth and promotes the love of literature. It's an opportunity for reading groups to reflect on their accomplishments and plan for the future—the perfect time to join or start a group. Here’s a list of suggested titles for book groups from the National Reading Group Folks. Many of these book are on our shelves.

All My Puny Sorrows, by Miriam Toews
All Who Go Do Not Return: A Memoir, by Shulem Deen
The Book of Strange New Things, by Michel Faber
Call Me Home, by Megan Kruse
Delicious Foods, by James Hannaham
Did You Ever Have a Family, by Bill Clegg
Dietland, by Sarai Walker
Etta and Otto and Russell and James, by Emma Hooper
Henna House, by Nomi Eve
Landfall, by Ellen Urbani
Make Your Home Among Strangers, by Jennine Capó Crucet
Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man, by Thomas Page Mcbee
Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League, by Jonathan Odell
No. 4 Imperial Lane, by Jonathan Weisman
Orphan #8, by Kim van Alkemade
A Perfect Crime, by A Yi
The Secret Wisdom of the Earth, by Christopher Scotton
A Sister to Honor, by Lucy Ferriss
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite, by Suki Kim
The Wonder Garden, by Lauren Acampora

More information about National Reading Group Month is at NationalReadingGroupMonth.org.

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Ivy + Bean Party
October 17, noon to 1:00

October 17 is International Ivy + Bean Day and we’re celebrating with a party!

It's inspired by Ivy + Bean Break the Fossil Record, the third book in the popular series for elementary age readers.

We want to set a record for the most people engaged in a game of Ivy + Bean Leapfrog! We’ll also have refreshments, and the first 35 children at the party will each receive a free Ivy + Bean book! Children should come dressed to be outdoors.

Introducing Lonnie!

Our newest staff member is Lonnie, who is a Park Rapids graduate and attended college at Bemidji State University. She has worked as a graphic designer, substitute teacher, and librarian paraprofessional. Fortunately for us, Lonnie recently moved back to the area and is very excited to be part of the team at the store. She’s interested in many genres of literature, but since the birth of her grandchild is particularly on the lookout for books for young children!

We need used books!

Many of our used books come from our customers in exchange for store credit. Currently, we particularly need mysteries, children’s books, and recent fiction. We’re partial to paperbacks in good condition.

Midwest Connection Picks

Last Night in the OR: A Transplant Surgeon’s Odyssey
by Bud Shaw

The 1980s marked a revolution in the field of organ transplants, and Bud Shaw was on the front lines. Now retired from active practice, Dr. Shaw relays gripping moments of anguish and elation, frustration and reward, despair and hope in his struggle to save patients. He reveals harshly intimate moments of his medical career: telling a patient’s husband that his wife has died during surgery; struggling to complete a twenty-hour operation as mental and physical exhaustion inch closer and closer; and flying to retrieve a donor organ while the patient waits in the operating room. Within these more emotionally charged vignettes are quieter ones, too, like growing up in rural Ohio, and being awakened late at night by footsteps in the hall as his father, also a surgeon, slipped out of the house to attend to a patient in the ER. An exhilarating, fast-paced, and beautifully written memoir, Last Night in the OR will captivate readers with its courage, intimacy, and honesty. The Morning Men’s Book Group will discuss this book on October 20. See the trailer for the book.

"When Grandma tucks her pants into her oversized boots and grabs her walking stick, I run to catch up," reports a young girl charmed by her visits to Grandma's north woods home. Their walks take them through the seasons, to a pond with a downed tree just right for sitting, to a garden lush with tomatoes ready for canning, and through a snowy nighttime woods where the only sounds are the squeak of boots on snow and the hooting of a distant owl. Whatever the month, there are plenty of woodland critters to observe: squirrels or rabbits or deer, geese or goldeneyes or mergansers.

Time with Grandma teaches about quiet observation, generous sharing of resources, the beauty of the forest and pond at any hour. Grandma is the quintessential north woods girl, breathing deep the piney scents, relishing the chirping activity of her animal neighbors. Small wonder that her admiring granddaughter is inspired to follow in her footsteps. With a tale as understated as Grandma herself, Aimée Bissonette shares a message of appreciating the treasures of our natural surroundings.

Sun and Moon
a picture book by Lindsey Yankey

Sun and Moon have always held their own places in the sky, but after a lifetime of darkness Moon wants to trade. Sun agrees, but only if first Moon takes a careful look at his night, before making his final decision. Follow Moon as he travels through the dark discovering enchanting animals and scenes unique to the nighttime, foxes hunting, children dreaming, lamplighters, and fireflies. Will Moon still wish to change places in the sky? Or will he realize the beauty of what he already has? Fine details amidst bright bold mixed-media illustrations will capture readers of all ages in this story of discovery and appreciation.
We’ve fallen in love with this beautiful picture book for readers of all ages! We’re anxious to show it to you!

BeagleAndWolf.com

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